Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Smithfield, district, London, England

(Encyclopedia)Smithfield, district of the City of London, England. Beginning in the 12th cent., it was used for fairs, markets, jousts, and executions. During the reign of Queen Mary I (1553–58), Protestants were...

Flinders Ranges

(Encyclopedia)Flinders Ranges, mountain chain, extending 260 mi (418 km) between Lake Torrens and Lake Frome, South Australia state, Australia; rises to 3,900 ft (1,189 m) at St. Mary's Peak. Uranium and copper are...

Kent, Edward Augustus, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Kent, Edward Augustus, duke of, 1767–1820, fourth son of George III of Great Britain and father of Queen Victoria. Most of his mature life was spent in military service at Gibraltar, in Canada, and ...

Curtis Institute of Music

(Encyclopedia)Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia; coeducational; founded 1924 by Mary Louise Curtis Bok (later married to Efrem Zimbalist) and named for her father, Cyrus Curtis. The institute operates enti...

Ascham, Roger

(Encyclopedia)Ascham, Roger ăsˈkəm [key], 1515–68, English humanist and scholar, b. Yorkshire. Ascham was a major intellectual figure of the early Tudor period. His Toxophilus (1545), an essay on archery, prov...

Leakey, Mary Douglas

(Encyclopedia)Leakey, Mary Douglas, 1913–96, British archaeologist, b. London as Mary Douglas Nicol; wife of Louis Leakey and mother of Richard Leakey. She had little formal education, but a fascination with arch...

Grey, Lady Jane

(Encyclopedia)Grey, Lady Jane, 1537–54, queen of England for nine days. She was the daughter of Henry Grey, marquess of Dorset (later duke of Suffolk), and Frances Brandon, daughter of Henry VIII's sister Mary. S...

Klesl, Melchior

(Encyclopedia)Klesl or Khlesl, Melchior both: mĕlˈkhyôr klāˈsəl [key], 1552–1630, Austrian politician, cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. The son of a Protestant baker, he was converted to Catholicism b...

Hunt, Richard Morris

(Encyclopedia)Hunt, Richard Morris, 1828–95, American architect, b. Brattleboro, Vt., studied in Geneva, Switzerland, and at the École des Beaux-Arts; brother of William Morris Hunt. He was a leading practitione...

Divine, Father

(Encyclopedia)Divine, Father, c.1882–1965, African-American religious leader, founder of the Peace Mission movement, b. probably near Savannah, Ga. and named George Baker. After preaching in the South, he moved t...
 

Browse by Subject